Hui Christian pastor released from prison as others continue to face harassment

Hui Christian Pastor Ma Yan was released from prison and reunited with his family on 17 April after he spent more than eight months in detention for ‘organising illegal gatherings’ in China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. His release was confirmed on X by user @fanghong00.

Ma was charged and tried on 10 February 2025 for organising a gathering of no more than ten Christians in Jinfeng District, Yinchuan, Ningxia, which was raided by police officers on 9 August 2024. CSW sources suggested that Ma pleaded guilty during the trial because the charge of ‘organising illegal gatherings’ carries a lighter sentence compared to other charges and does not attract moral stigmatisation.

Ma was sentenced to nine months in prison by the Yinchuan Railway Transportation Court on 24 March 2025. His sentence was offset by 32 days of previous administrative detentions and calculated from the date on which he was criminally detained on 20 August 2024, hence his release on 17 April.

CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘CSW is relieved to learn that Pastor Ma Yan has been released from prison and reunited with his family, however we maintain that he should never have been detained in the first place. We call on the Chinese authorities to ensure that he and his family are now able to enjoy his freedom without further harassment.’

In a separate development, the wives of preachers Li Jie and Han Xiaodong of Linfen Covenant House (‘Shengyue Jiayuan’) Church – both of whom were detained on unfounded fraud charges in August 2022 – have reported being stalked, harassed and intimidated. Han’s wife Chen Ying has been repeatedly contacted by a stranger claiming to be an official from Xi’an province who pressured her to meet with him, and both Chen and Li’s wife Li Shanshan claimed that the harassment has made them afraid to leave their homes for fear of abduction.

Finally, the trial of a group of defendants from Golden Lampstand Church, another house church in Linfen, concluded on 14 April. The church was raided during a baptismal service in August 2021, after which police detained Pastor Wang Xiaoguang, his wife Pastor Yang Rongli and ten of their co-workers. Although five of them were later released on bail, seven were formally charged with fraud in March 2022, including Pastors Wang and Yang. The April trial lasted seven days, during which the group’s lawyer was not permitted to bring his computer to court, and the verdict is alleged to have been pre-determined. A sentence is expected to be announced at a later date.

Mervyn Thomas added: ‘CSW continues to condemn the ongoing detention of leaders and members of both Linfen Covenant House Church and Golden Lampstand Church, all of whom are innocent of the fraud charges levelled against them. We call for their immediate and unconditional release, and particularly for the authorities to cease the harassment of Chen Ying and Li Shanshan.’